Description
The papers of freelance writer and historian, Ruth Teiser, divided into three series: Winemaking in California files; Research
and Writing files; and Personalia and General Correspondence.
Background
Ruth Teiser (1915-1994) was born in Portland, Oregon to attorney Sidney Teiser and Betty (Kline) Teiser. Ruth attended Mills
College from 1932 to 1934 and Stanford University (where she received her B.A. and M.A.) from 1936 to 1941. She built a career
as a reporter and freelance writer and photographer. Her articles, essays, and book reviews appeared in Bay Area newspapers
and magazines, including Westways, Travel, Wine World, Wines and Vines, and California Living. Subject areas of particular
interest to Teiser were wine in California, San Francisco history, and books and fine printing. In 1965, Teiser started a
new phase in her career when she became a part-time senior editor and interviewer at the Regional Oral History Office (ROHO),
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. For ROHO, Teiser and her long-time friend and colleague Catherine Harroun,
director of the Wells Fargo HIstory Room, conducted a series of interviews with local printers, publishers, hand bookbinders
in the Bay Area. They also conducted many interviews for a wine oral history series. In 1976, the Book Club of California
published Printing as Performance Art by Teiser and Harroun. In 1983, the pair published a history of California wine entitled
Winemaking in California, which won awards of merit from the California Historical Society and the Commonwealth Club of California.
Restrictions
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head
of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The
Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.